Deafening Calm and Blessed Storm
by Wolfsaint
Summary: She rescued him from the Sea. She brought him home. Now the Grid is changing, they're changing. As the looming storm threatens to break, the Grid must struggle to survive or tear itself apart from the inside out. Tron/OC. THIS IS A REWRITE OF REVOLUTION!
1. Is There Something Wrong With My Face?

Revolution I

**So, I'm redoing this story. I read it again and realized how completely stupid it was so here we go, starting over!**

**The story is about Tron and an OC named Skye so prepare yourself. There will be some romance, action, craziness and few slaps to the face for readers. **

**My beta is the lovely muso-artist.**

_I stood on the bridge between the I/O tower and the Sea, my jet black hair whipping around me in such a frenzy that it stung my skin where it hit. I raised a hand to shield my eyes from the blinding glare of the tower in all of its glory. I'd seen its glow from the city before as it shone through the clouds, dim and distant, but being here now, mere bytes away from the portal between this world and the one beyond, was more incredible than I had ever imagined. I could have stood there forever, gazing into the bright beacon of hope with a mixture of awe, reverence and fear, but a shout from its center caught my attention. _

_Sam was there, holding his Disk above his head with Quorra standing beside him. He was looking at me expectantly, as if he were saying, 'what are you waiting for?'. He wanted me to go with them. _

_The realization hit me like a light Disk to the face. Sam wanted to take a program, a lowly program like me, with him to the User world? I could understand the ISO going, but me? Why did he want me to go? _

_I hesitated, taking a step forward and halting again. It isn't that I didn't want to go, I'd always wanted to see the User's world, but there were two things that held me back. One, I was afraid. I had no idea about what the User's world might be like and I wasn't a User. I didn't deserve to see it in all of its glory. Two, I couldn't stop thinking about _him. _He was down there, in the Sea, alone, derezzing and the thought made my chest ache strangely. _

_Sam's eyes shifted to focus on something behind me, something he didn't much like. I didn't have to look to know that it was Clu. I would know that voice anywhere and I could see the glare of orange out of the corner of my eye. Something grabbed at my Disk, claw-like hands struggling to gain purchase enough to anchor himself to me as Flynn tried so hard to reintegrate him. I didn't try to move away knowing that if Clu couldn't do it, neither could I. I just closed my eyes and willed it all to end. I was ready for it all to end. _

_It had been far too long since I had known peace, since any of us had known peace and it was so close now. If only Clu would stop fighting and let the inevitable and die already! _

_Suddenly the force that was pulling on Clu became stronger and his reaching hands disappeared. I still did not look. I didn't have to. I knew as well as anyone what was going to happen now. _

_The force abruptly changed direction and tripled in intensity, pushing me forward on my face and I had to grip the edges of the bridge to keep from blowing off into the Sea. Liquid dripped slowly from my eyes. _

_Tears. _

_I didn't know I had tears, nor the ability to shed them. I was weeping. Weeping for the death of Kevin Flynn. The Creator, the User, had died. _

_He was my friend. He taught me what I know about the Users and, well, everything. It was he who had given me life here on the Grid and been my mentor as he had been Quorra's. He had meant everything to me, and now he was gone forever. _

_I nearly lost myself in the crushing grief that was threatening to swallow me whole and destroy me. Were it not for the faint whisper that echoed around my processors, I would have. It wasn't even a whisper really, it was just the barest trace of a suggestion of a voice that echoed one word, one name. _

Tron.

_I looked over the side of the bridge to the Sea so very far below and again felt the incredible urge to jump in after him although I didn't know why. I couldn't leave him there, alone, drowning. He'd taken back control, redeemed himself and I'd be damned if I let his sacrifice go unacknowledged. I had to go to him, to save him. _

_I stood, casting one last look at Sam. He understood. Just as he and the ISO disappeared into the User world, I took a running leap, snatching Clu's abandoned light jet baton and activating it as I hurled myself off of the bridge. I fell for a moment, until the coding for the jet finished construction and then, I was flying just over the surface at top speed toward the place where he had disappeared. _

_It was so hard to tell. Everything looked the same. I couldn't be sure of where he had fallen and I felt panic rising inside me. I had to find him, fast. _

_Everything was black, the Sea, the sky, everything. I scanned the area for his signal, hoping that he was still alive. _

_SCANNING…SCANNING…_

_There! It was faint and fading fast but it was there, just ahead! I bent low over the jet and just as I passed the place where his signal was emanating from, I rolled over with the jet and let go, throwing myself into the Sea after him. _

I jolted out of sleep mode, gasping for breath as if I had just burst from the dark, cold confines of the Sea again. The dream had been so vivid. Since when did I even have dreams anyway? I was a program, I didn't dream. Well, I suppose I did now. Odd.

I swiped a hand over my face to ground myself, prove to my processors that I wasn't in the Sea, that I was safe. I had pulled Tron out of the water several cycles ago, and I had brought him home. I smiled a little to myself as I remembered that feat of strength that had astounded even me. I remembered the first words out of Tron's mouth when he had woken on the shore.

_You? How Skye? How? _

I even remembered the way he had flinched at my glare when he questioned my abilities.

The journey back into the city had been difficult, and I hadn't thought we would make it. Tron was heavy and weak and I carried him the many bytes back to the city. Several times his dead weight brought me to my knees and I had to stop and rest for a while. Then I got back up and trudged onward, eyes focused on the lights in the distance. They drew me forward as if I was attached by some substantial force, even though my data were screaming in agony. Finally, we made it into the city's outer limits and Tron was swept away from me in a frenzy of agitated programs. I remember puzzling over this because I hadn't seen them this agitated since the last Game. Odd.

_Are you alright? _A soft voice said from the doorway. Tron was standing there, looking at me with concern. Again, odd. Tron didn't feel anything. What was with the programs lately?

_Y-yes, I'm fine, _I said, trying to sort out my confusion. The matter didn't seem relatively pressing at this time so I decided just to think about it later.

Ah yes, Tron and I share an apartment, we have since the earliest days of the Grid and it's one of the nicest ones if I do say so myself. Yes, I will take credit for its design and decoration. Flynn grouped us together, don't ask why because I can't tell you. The mysteries of that man will forever elude me. I do know that I will be eternally grateful for that. Tron's saved my life multiple times on various occasions, each time he was able to get to me because of the proximity in which we live.

_I'm going down to End of Line, would you like to come? _I asked him, glancing at him from the corner of my eye because I was too embarrassed to look him straight on. I never said things like this and I honestly don't know why I did or what exactly it meant that I invited him to go with me somewhere (I vaguely recall Sam telling me about dates. I wonder if this would count as one?). The words just came tumbling out of my mouth before I could stop them and immediately afterward I felt my face begin to buzz uncomfortably.

_No thank you, I-_Tron halted mid-sentence and looked at me quizzically. _What's wrong with your face? _

_What do you mean? _I slapped my hands to my cheeks and began patting my face as I searched for any disfigurement that may have suddenly sprung up.

_It's changing colors, _Tron said, still looking at me like I had just sprouted wings.

_Agh! _I shrieked and sprinted to the mirror to inspect whatever damage might have been done. I leaned in close when I saw myself in the glass plate, running my hands over my skin as if I could feel the change in color with my fingers. Tron was right. My face was blue! It had gone from it's pale, natural state to a dull shade of blue. _Oh my, _I said, more in amazement than fear. Flynn's face used to change colors. It would turn red when his human blood flushed to his face for some reason. It usually happened when he was embarrassed or angry. Perhaps this was the same concept? But I had no human blood. I was made up of strands of written code and data held together by Users know what. It must be the data bouncing around in my skin.

_That is indeed odd, _Tron said, still gazing at me like I was some sort of freak.

_Stop looking at me like that! _I snapped. _I am not deformed, it's just the data buzzing around. _I did not appreciate him looking at me like that, like there was something wrong with me. There was nothing wrong with me, right?

_I am sorry, _said Tron, his face melting back into its usual stony non-expression as he stalked quickly out of the unit with me staring sharply after him. I had a tendency to do that, run him away when all I really wanted was to be closer. I don't really understand it, this desire to be near him. Programs don't desire such things. We are simple, efficient means of achieving various ends desired by our Users. At least, that's what we used to be. I didn't know what we were anymore. We served no purpose, we had no Users, no directives. We were meaningless.

I turned back to the mirror, my expression darkly contemplative and even, possibly, a tiny bit worried. Worried about what, I have no idea. I just had this sudden odd sense of foreboding, like something huge was about to happen. It was a storm, looming on the black horizon, lightning flashing violently as it mocked me. I didn't even know the sky had the capability to mock, but that's what it always felt as if it was doing.

I ran a nervous hand through my hair, trying to focus on the way the light from my circuits and the room's circuits danced on the individual strands rather than my unprovoked fear. Everything about me was different than the others. My hair hung free, falling to my waist in a pin-straight jet black sheet. Both the end and my bangs sloped diagonally from the left down to the right, symmetrical, perfect. Not a hair out of place.

My cheeks had returned to their normal, pale lack of color now. My face was smooth, perfect, marred only by the small scars here and there from various battles. They were mostly from the Games. Silver eyes, round and as open as windows gazed back at me through thick, dark lashes and heavy black liner like every other female program. The nose on the face in the mirror was small and button-like (Flynn described it to me that way once) and the lips were full and darker than the rest of the face. They curved upward gently in a little smile as the silver eyes roved over the rest of my body, appraising.

It was small, light and delicate-looking, but many had underestimated it. Hidden within such unseemly and tiny limbs was a secret. A strength was written into my coding that most did not have. I hadn't even had it when I was first written. Flynn had given it to me. It was a gift, he said, a gift to ensure my survival. Why had he wanted me to survive? I had asked him once and he merely smiled and said, "I may have need of you yet," in that miraculously clear User voice.

My small sheath…dress, I believe it was…clung tight to my petite frame, complete with skin-tight black pants and wedge heeled boots (standard issue). White circuits ran up and down and around my body, highlighting parts of me and casting others into shadow. Almost on its own, a finger lifted up to trace one white line that ran along my chest. Why was this one simple thing that had been with me since my creation suddenly seem so alien? This small line was as familiar as anything else on my body. It was a part of me and no matter what I wore, it always shone back at me. It was my lifeline, a pathway for my energy to travel my body and all of a sudden, it was as strange as the voice of Kevin Flynn.

What made it work? What caused it to light up so? What caused the city to illuminate itself in this manner as well and why did the sky not brighten the same way? So many questions that should not have been abruptly bombarded my processors and they frightened me with their sudden intensity. I was questioning things that had no answer. For the first time in my entire existence, I wasn't sure of who I was or what I was meant to be doing. Questions are for Users, not their programs. This is not a system that is meant to be questioned by the likes of me, and the fact that I was questioning added to my strange nervousness.

Quick as a flash, I snapped back to reality with a quick shake of my head. I didn't know what just came over me. I never questioned. I only did. And now I was questioning why I was questioning! There must have been something wrong with me. I'd check my diagnostics later that night when I returned from End of Line. The club always cheered me up.

With a smile on my face, I grabbed my baton and headed out for a good time.

XoXoX

_Hey Zuse, _I called with a wave to the perpetually grinning white program who was mingling over by the bar area. He waggled his fingers at me and smiled with all of his teeth before excusing himself from the two programs he was conversing with to make his way over to where I stood.

_Ah, there you are! _he exclaimed, placing both hands on top of his cane with a flourish. _ I was wondering when you might show yourself around here again, prettiness. _Zuse's eyes flitted around the place quickly. To someone who hadn't known him as long as I had, it appeared to be no more than a nervous habit and I suppose this was true to an extent. He was nervous and it was a habit, but there was more to it than that. Zuse was a criminal, guilty of siding with Clu and had in fact been derezzed by him. Somehow he'd survived. He wouldn't tell anyone how, only that he had and he was back on the side of right. The reason he was so nervous all of the time was that he knew that no one believed him. Not even me.

He was constantly looking over his shoulders and scanning his crowds for vindictive programs. It was also a cycles old habit from his time of sneaky backdoor deals with devils that had him paranoid as hell.

Other wouldn't see that in Zuse, but I did. His expression was perfect. An excellent façade of the joyful showmanship that defined Zuse. Not even his expressive eyes revealed any discomfort in him, only their incessant shifting displayed any oddities and to most it wasn't an oddity with Zuse.

_So what brings you back to my humble establishment, eh? _he shouted over the thumping and bumping and voices. The place was so loud it was deafening, and the lights flashing all around made me dizzy. I loved it.

_Oh you know, _I leaned up on the bar and grinned at him as coyly as I could manage, _fun. _I looked up at him through my lashes and tried my best to be attractive. I suppose it must have worked because Zuse's eyes roved over my body and the smile faltered for a moment. He swallowed uncomfortably and tried to put his showman's face back on but the mask had already shattered.

I couldn't hold it in any longer. Loud, uncontrollable laughter escaped my belly before I could contain it and I threw my head back at the look on Zuse's face. It was just too silly! For a moment he was exposed, open and I got a glimpse of the true Zuse. The one that was actually very timid and gentle.

_You sly devil! _The smile returned in earnest as he figured out what I was doing. _Stop teasing me like that you! _For a moment we laughed together and I forgot my worries. But only a moment.

Zuse knew something was bothering me. He always knew. _What is it? _he said as he sauntered off to the bar to mix drinks.

_It's nothing. _I sure hoped it was. _Really. _I could tell he didn't believe me but he let it go.

_But there's something else isn't there? _He didn't miss a thing that program.

_I'm confused. _I decided to be honest with him on this one. Maybe he could really help me. _Have you heard of love? _I asked.

_Ah, yes! _Zuse beamed and flung his arms out wide, his right taking the cane with it. He nearly hit another program who turned to glare at him. _I do believe I have! So who is it you have your eye on my dear? _Oh, he's good.

_Oh, I don't know. _I felt my cheeks buzzing again and I looked away to hide my silly smile. I did know but I didn't want to tell him for some odd reason. I had been feeling strange things toward this program for some time now and I was so very confused and frightened by it. Programs aren't supposed to feel and Zuse was the only other one I knew who did so I felt safe telling him. Well, not really but safer I suppose. I worried about what this program would think if he ever found out. Would it change our relationship for the better or worse, because it would, undoubtedly.

_I know who it is, _Zuse said slyly, appearing around my other side and grinning a naughty grin. _Could it be…_he slipped around behind me to reappear on my other side, holding my arms as he moved…_perhaps…_back to the other side… _one who calls himself…_back around again…_Defender? _

The buzzing in my face intensified and he grinned even wider. He knew.

_Well, well, well, _said Zuse, crossing his arms and looking as if he'd just caught me doing something illegal. _Tronnie. I can't say I'm surprised given the way he…well I'm not going to ruin the surprise, now am I? _

_Thank you. _I took the drink he offered without another word. His had caused too much commotion inside me. The way Tron what? I wanted to know but I also knew that Zuse wouldn't tell. So I settled for moving into the crowd and letting the pulsing beat sweep me away.

**So, better, worse? I need you to tell me what you think. I'm going in the same basic direction with this but how I get there is going to change. Plus, it'll be written a lot better! **

**Please Review!**


	2. Why Drinking a Driving is Really Stupid

**I own nothing but Skye.**

Tron felt odd. Which, in itself was truly odd. He did not feel, he was a security program. He was Tron and Tron had locked his feelings away so deeply that he was certain that he would never have to deal with them again. Why had he been so wrong? What were these unfamiliar sensations? He hadn't felt like this in several thousand cycles and he wanted to know why it was happening now. His chest felt strange when she was near. It was as if it were trembling with some strange emotion. Excitement maybe? Nerves? He didn't know.

He had thought that she might be able to tell him. She was different, that Skye. She'd always been different but he never really gave it much thought. It was just Skye. Now he wondered if there may be something else…What the something else might be was still a mystery. He just had a tiny inclination that maybe something was happening to the Grid. It wasn't even a coherent thought really, more like a tiny whisper of a worry that ran through his data and processors, alerting his systems that something wasn't quite the same.

Ah well, the feeling was infinitesimal that he didn't put much thought into it. It was probably just a simple update and the oddness would cease shortly and he could get back to his routine. He tucked his feelings away as surely as he had those many cycles ago and continued on his way out of the security headquarters. Once on the ground, he removed the baton from its sheath and took the first running steps he needed to get onto the cycle.

_Defender! _A shout from behind him brought him to an abrupt halt. Tron felt aggravation rising up within him at this interruption, but it was something he needed to deal with no matter how small it may be. He turned to the young male running up to him and blanched at the look on his face as he slid to a halt.

There was a strange look to his eyes. It was almost like….sadness but more than that. Tron couldn't place it but the alert he was getting earlier returned. Programs were never saddened. For one to be displaying such vivid emotions on his face was unnerving. It caught him off guard.

_Wh-what is it? _Tron asked, casting his eyes anywhere but the program in front of him. He didn't want to see what he knew shouldn't be there.

_It's Skye._

Everything froze. The world around him was, at once, still and chaotic. That face of hers flashed in front of his vision and his focus tunneled in until all he thought of was her. He was suddenly stuck between sorting through the massive amount of information that was streaming around his processors and struggling to for a valid thought. He was sure he was malfunctioning because the world suddenly seemed to quiet, too still. It was again, unnatural.

_What's happened to her? _The look on the program's face could only mean that something _had _happened to his Skye, that sequencing of codes in his facial receptors that implied extreme distress. A thousand different scenarios and half-formed thoughts were bouncing around inside at the moment, not the least of which was the question; when had she become _his _Skye? She belonged to no one.

No. A tiny voice whispered to his core. She belongs to me.

_She's crashed her light cycle. _The program seemed to fold in on himself, guarding his person as if fearing some sort of violent outburst from his commander. He wasn't that far from the truth.

_WHAT DO YOU MEAN SOLDIER! _Tron bellowed, leaning forward for added effect, not that it was needed.

The poor program leaned back further, trying desperately to escape the Defender's wrath while also not trying to offend him by moving away. It was a tough decision to make. _Sh-she c-crashed her l-light cycle, sir. She h-hit a d-dividing wall and it sh-shattered on impact. Sh-she's been b-badly damaged and they d-don't know if she'll s-survive. _

Tron was on the cycle and scanning for her signal before the petrified program had finished stammering.

_*flashback*_

_The first thing he noticed was bright. His eyes were closed but his visual receptors were still receiving massive amounts of light. It was making them ache. He squeezed them closed to try and stem the flow of offensive light, but it didn't work. _

_A tiny shift in pressure surrounding his left hand captured his undivided attention immediately. Something pleasant and comforting was encasing it, squeezing lightly. Someone was holding his hand. The pleasant sensation moved to his arm, stroking up and down slowly and reviving the dormant data there. His eyes fluttered open to see who it was that was comforting him so. _

_Skye was there, sitting beside him and stroking his arm with one hand and holding his with the other. She was looking upward at something on the wall so she didn't see his astonished and gentle stare._

_Why did it feel so amazing to know that she had sat at his bedside while he was recovering from his little swim? Why did his chest flutter so when he saw her face? He didn't know and he didn't want to think about that right now. He just wanted this to last as long as possible. So he closed his eyes and returned to sleep mode, albeit more peacefully this time. _

_When he woke again she was still there. Her face brightened to the point of blinding when she saw his eyes finally open. He wondered why. Why did she seem so happy to see him? This was happiness, correct? He hoped so. Happiness was good. _

_For a while he had basked in the wonder that emotions brought with them. Skye made him happy. He didn't remember being this happy since Yori, and he certainly didn't want it to end so soon. _

_They lived together, they laughed together and they put the city back, together. They were both security programs so they each set to work right away with their individual tasks, Tron's being a bit more demanding than hers, and for a while everything was perfect. _

_Then she began to move away from him. _

_Out of nowhere, she simply became distant. The smiles faded, the sparkle in her eyes dimmed and she ceased laughing. He had loved the sound of her laugh and he missed it dearly. He hadn't even realized it, but he was shutting down too. Her distance brought back the negative emotions and he couldn't bear to have those hollow, empty feelings that caused such pain, so he shut them away once again. _

_They began calling him Defender and falling to their knees when he passed. It frightened him. He shoved the fear back down. They smiled at him. It frightened him. He shoved the fear back down. They shouted at him. It frightened him. He shoved the fear back down. _

_He shoved it back again and again because he didn't understand it anymore. It meant nothing to him. He was simple, efficient and he would continue to be so until his deresolution. He couldn't comprehend fear any more than he could comprehend the reason he was feeling fear, so he didn't. These things were as elusive to him as the subtle change in the programs and the structure of the Grid. Tiny alarms were going off inside him and he didn't know what to do with them because he just couldn't place the changes. They were too small. _

_Or he simply didn't want to. _

_Tron was in denial. He would never admit it to himself, but he was. He knew something was amiss and he knew what, but he didn't know why or what to do about it, so he ignored it and hoped it would pass eventually. _

It would not.

_As the cycles passed and the city recovered from the torture Clu had put it through, the changes grew more pronounced and Tron's denial grew stronger. He refused to believe that anything was wrong. He refused to believe that the sudden surge of crime in the city was anything more than a phase that would pass with time. He refused to believe that he felt something for the program he'd lived with since they were both uploaded onto the Grid and he refused to believe that he loved her. _

_He would not love again. Never. It hurt too much when they told you that they didn't feel the same. He'd put himself back together once but he feared that he would not be able to do so a second time. So he denied it and soon, he was back to his blessed ignorance, not noticing or caring that Skye was retreating so deeply into herself that he may never truly see her again. Nor did he care why. He returned to the realm of perfect, where everything made sense and nothing would ever be amiss. _

_*flashback*_

Tron shook his head to clear it of the memories. He knew it all like the back of his hand, and he despised the program he'd become even more than he despised Rinzler. He despised both of them yes, but he was in full control of himself when he became a shadow and pushed Skye away from him.

For it was indeed he that shoved her back into her shell. He realized now that he had begun to shut down before she did because the emotions, not matter how pleasant, scared him to his very core. He was Tron and could not admit fear to anyone. Not even himself.

Something clicked inside, a mighty shoving together of two parts of his internal processing unit that connected in a shower of sparks and an electric storm of unleashed passion. It was as brief as it was abrubt and Tron was swept away in the awesome power of this sudden epiphany.

Cycles and cycles of emptiness surged back upon him in a mere instant and he buckled, afraid that he may explode if the rabid tide did not ebb soon. The catharsis was as abrupt as it was intense as everything he had ever felt or should have felt came washing back down on his head, crushing him, lifting him, overwhelming him.

So many wasted cycles! He could have spent his time happy! He could have spent his time with Skye! Instead he had shut her out as surely as he had shut himself out.

Tron felt moisture leaking from his eyes as he neared the sight where Skye's fading signal was strongest.

OxOxO

I don't know why I did it. I honestly don't. Obviously it was a bad decision to drive around at top velocity after drinking so many…things that I couldn't remember what they were or how many. I didn't even remember the accident. I do remember the events leading up to the accident, however. I remember my conversation with Zuse and I remember the sudden and illogical sadness that occurred when I thought of the Defender and what I felt toward him. That's what had driven me to drinking. It hurt so badly and I was so confused as to why I was hurting and the drinks took the pain and confusion away. Unfortunately, they also took my judgment away.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. It really wasn't.

I remember mounting the cycle and taking off and….CRASH! There I was, lying on the ground in immense pain with the wailing of recognizer sirens in the distance, growing closer.

The pain wasn't so much now, the cold had numbed it considerably. And it was cold, so cold. My eyes closed, too heavy to open. Tired now, very tired. I tried to stay awake but…too hard. The ground faded from existence. I was floating in a sea of cold. I was sinking, derezzing, going to a place between waking and sleep, senses shutting down. Data, slipping away…abyss…sweet release….sleep….

No sleep. Woken. No longer floating, moving violently. Senses returning but slowly. Rocking back and forth, loud voices and sounds in my head. Someone shaking me gently, shouting loudly. That voice, I knew it. It was muffled as if through glass.

_Skye! _the voice shouted. Why did it seem so familiar? Why did it have so much emotion? _Skye! _it shouted again, louder this time, clearer. I knew it, but I couldn't place it. _It's Tron, Skye! _Ah, there it was. It was Tron! What was he doing here? I started rocking again and I felt very, very ill. I tried to reach out an arm to swat at him but I couldn't feel anything.

A sharp stinging sensation on my cheek. Had he slapped me? Oh no he didn't! I was gonna tell him what was what, just as soon as I could figure out how to move my mouth. That's when the pain returned with reinforcements.

Blinding pain, mind numbing pain erupted like an electric storm all over my body. It ricocheted to all corners of my data and I couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was coming from. Probably everywhere.

_Skye! _the voice shouted again. Alright, alright already! Just shut up, will ya? I tried to wave my hand again but felt nothing but pain. Another sharp pain in the cheek. Another slap. Another promise for revenge later.

Finally I remembered where my eyes were and how to open them. That was possibly the hardest thing I've ever done, save for dragging Tron's sorry ass out the damned ocean!

_Skye, answer me, dammit! _He interrupted me right in the middle of me trying to force my eyelids to open just a hair. Couldn't he see I was busy? Wait a minute, Tron hardly ever cursed unless he was really upset. This must be serious. I forced my eyes to look up at him and find out just what the hell was going on here.

I almost wished I hadn't.

That face of his was so broken, so exposed and vulnerable. It was unnatural to see him like that, without his careful mask on. Why does he look so sad? Oh wait, I've drezzed myself. But he couldn't be so distraught over me, could he? No, it must be something else.

_Skye, can you hear me? Blink once for yes, two for, well, nevermind. _I didn't even try. I wouldn't have been able to get the damned things open again.

A light pressure on my hand pushed the pain aside for just a moment. Was he squeezing it? No, couldn't be.

_Skye, the repair Programs are here. They are going to help you. You're going to be fine. _He didn't sound too sure of that.

A new pressure registered in the vicinity of my inner elbow and the last thing I saw was two, cerulean orbs shining with unshed moisture before the universe dimmed to nothing.

XoXoX

**And I'm ending it right there for now. It's just kinda been rotting on my flash drive and I need to give my two or three readers something to do. So, sorry for the short chappie, the next one will be longer, promise!**

**I really, really, really need reviews so if you have any thoughts at all, please tell me. If I don't start getting some, I may have to take this story down for good! Do you like it, do you hate it, what? I need to know! **

**Thanks to my two reviewers so far, muso-artist and Tron'sgirl! **


	3. The Beginnings ofWell, Lot's of Stuff

**I only own Skye. **

Tron was in a state of utter panic. What on the Grid had gotten into that female? He was so angry and scared and devastated at the same time and he had no idea what to do with himself. So he just boarded the recognizer with the little program nestled in his arms and prayed to the Users that she'd be spared. He had so much to tell her and so much to show her. She'd be thrilled at his epiphany and it might even draw her out of her shell so that he could see her really smile again.

He gazed down at her and gently stroked her hair with no idea why. It just felt like the right thing to do. She'd told him to trust his feelings, so that's what he was going to do. He'd never realized how incredibly wonderful her hair felt beneath his fingers. That was probably because he'd never touched it before. He should have done that earlier. He should have done it. He should have…well there were a lot of things he should have done, but wallowing in the past wouldn't do anyone any good.

_Sir, _He looked up at the soldier who approached him. _There have been reports-_

_Stop. _Tron held up a hand and stopped the program in his tracks. _Skye is my priority at this moment. Any new disasters can wait until we have arrived back at headquarters and she has been taken care of. _

_Yes, sir. _With an odd nuance in facial expression, the program moved away. What had been that look? Almost angry but more…annoyed? It had been too subtle for his desensitized processors to comprehend.

All was silent apart from the steady roar of the thrusters on the bottom of the recognizer. Tron ran his fingers through Skye's soft, shiny, perfect hair again. It felt like liquid running over his skin, cool and smooth and barely there at all. He glanced at Skye's face to see if she'd moved any since they'd boarded the recognizer. She hadn't. Her eyes were closed and her body was motionless. The dull ache he'd been feeling in the center of his chest intensified. It was almost as if an enormous hole of data had been derezzed right there. Right there in the center.

He clutched the small body close to his chest, trying desperately to keep it from falling apart.

XoXoX

Odd. Everything was odd. My body felt like nothing and my processors were slow and dim. I heard things as if through a thick pane of glass, muted and unclear. I felt nothing. Nothing at all.

No, not nothing. There was something, on my hand. Not to mention immense déjà vu. I suddenly flashed back to the moment I had squeezed Tron's hand after pulling him from the sea. It couldn't be him. He would be in the headquarters or on his rounds. He wouldn't be here.

_I can see your visual receptors moving Skye. Don't pretend you don't know I'm here. _

Well what do you know? I was wrong.

_Why? _I tried to ask but it came out more like a strange croak. He understood me anyway.

_I don't know. _At least he was honest.

With an enormous effort, I opened my eyes and looked at him. His helmet was sitting in his lap and his hair was sticking out in all different directions as if he'd run his hands through it a million times. He might have. His eyes were dull and glassy and he looked as if he hadn't rested in microcycles.

_Alright? _My vocalizers were scratchy and sore and I just sort of croaked again.

_You're asking me if I'm alright? _His voice and face did something funny just then. It wasn't necessarily funny because I'd never seen it before, but it was funny because I hadn't seen him do it in nearly a hundred cycles. His vocalizers rose slightly in pitch and the data in his face moved ever so slightly into a pattern that implied distress. The change was subtle, so subtle that a lesser program would not have detected it. But I was perceptive, my coding was designed to detect nuances in facial expression and voice pitch.

Something so small should not have affected me the way it did. A tremendous weight, like an entire light cycle dropped onto my chest and crushed all sensation to nothing. If I could have moved, shouted, cursed, I would have. As it was, all I could do was stare blankly at him as an electric storm of emotion raged inside.

_Why did you do it? _he asked. Shame washed over me then, drowning out everything else. He was disappointed and hurt, and I had caused it. I looked up at the ceiling to avoid his gaze, but he was having none of that. His strong hand gripped my chin and forced me to face him. _I want to know why. Tell me. Was it me? _

Suddenly unable to speak around the lump in my throat, I blinked once.

It was his turn to lower his eyes. _I see. I'm sorry Skye. I didn't know that…_ His hand dropped away and his head fell. _I didn't mean to…I didn't want…Users, why is this so hard? I didn't even know that I was pushing you away. I think if I was honest, I would admit that I was afraid. The programs have been acting strange lately and proximity frightens me. All I could think about was Yori and the pain she left me with and I didn't want to ever feel that pain again. _I could see him growing more and more distressed as his spoke, his vocalizers clogging up with the same debris that had blocked mine and his eyes staring at the floor and darting about erratically. I touched my fingers to his arm and he froze.

_You-don't-have-to-explain._ I managed to choke out a few words, but it really hurt. Only then did he look at me again. He said nothing, but the look in his eyes told me everything. In that one brief moment that our eyes met and our emotions were bared, something passed between us. Unspoken promises and silent encouragements sizzled through the air like the data that flowed in our circuits. Too many sensations to describe transferred like files between the two of us and all at once, we were at an understanding. I knew what he was too proud to ever admit out loud, that his center, that odd little place that so few of us had these cycles where sensation and emotion resided, had opened. For one split instant in time, I could see all of the tiny and significant things he was feeling roiling behind those deep azure eyes like an enormous storm that tore through his processors. I knew him, really knew him. All of him, and I felt like he truly knew me, the crazy, mixed up program that I was.

Electricity, gentle and sweet, buzzed through my circuits and I had to shake my head to keep a grip on my sanity. This brought on a massive bout of pain that faded almost as quickly as it arose. That meant the repairs were nearly finished. Good timing.

Until the small beeping indicating the conclusion of the repair sounded, we said nothing, not because we did not want to say anything but because there was nothing left to say. Truths and emotions hung between us like visible light and I could have sworn that I could see them there.

Before I could look too closely, a little repair program entered the room and chased the would-be images away. _It looks like you're all fixed up. Feel free to leave at any time, _she said with a smile.

My heart sank straight through my body to land somewhere around my feet. For a brief span, I was frozen. The reality of what I had just witnessed struck me with a massive force that sent me reeling. It was a small thing, yes, but in its own right it was enormous and would change the face of the Grid forever.

The program had smiled at me. She had warped her facial receptors in a pattern that implied happiness or kindness. It had been stiff, her data were not accustomed to arranging in such a pattern, but it had been a smile all the same. Programs don't smile and they don't feel with the exception of Tron and Zuse, two older programs who had been created with emotion.

I was still staring and sputtering quite unattractively when Tron gently took hold of my arm and tugged me out of bed. I made it about one step before my right leg buckled under me and I went sprawling to the floor. Tron was fast and had his hands under my arms before I crashed and burned, but that didn't stop me from loosing a stream of cursed that would make an Earthside sailor envious. Even when Tron clapped his hand over my mouth, I glared up at him and tried to shout away the sudden pain in my leg. Eventually I managed to stem the flow of profanity long enough to look down and examine the leg.

Holy shit! The thing was warped like someone had just grabbed it and twisted, the coding was scourged and misshapen and horrifying to look at. But as hard as I tried, my darned eyes just wouldn't do what I wanted them to. Just what was so enthralling about my nasty leg anyhow?

Instantly, tiny warning bells started to go off in my processors. They were small and if I hadn't already been alert and focused I would have missed them. They didn't really even tell me anything, just that something was amiss. Like a light switch, I moved into observation mode and my eyesight refocused. I quickly scanned the area, picking up every little detail no matter how small. After the fourth scan that revealed nothing I started to get frustrated. I could feel my brow furrowing and my lips curving downward in a scowl.

_If you're not going to tell me anything useful, then be quiet!_ I shouted in my irritation, shaking myself to try and get rid of the unpleasant tingling sensation in the back of my head. It didn't work. Something felt off, but my odd feelings weren't going to tell me anything else. Damn those silly feelings!

_Who are you shouting to? _Tron looked at me with concern that I'd gone mad. Who knew, perhaps I had.

_My feelings. I keep getting the odd sensation that something is amiss but I can't put a finger on it. Everything looks fine to me. Are your scanners picking up anything? _Suddenly in need of the comfort of touch, I reached for his hand almost without thinking. He said nothing and only tightened his fingers around mine as we continued to walk slowly down the street.

_No. I'm not getting any solid readings, but I too am getting the sense that something in the city is not quite right. Perhaps it's just an upgrade and the feeling will pass soon. _He didn't believe it and neither did I.

For a long while we walked together and tried to shove back the negative feelings the Grid seemed to emanating straight to our cores. His hand was sweet and strong against mine and I felt a smile creep its way across my face. I could get used to this. I stole a glance at him and felt my face begin to buzz again when he smiled back at me. Oh yeah, I could definitely get used to it.

I lost myself in the comfort that his strong hand infused throughout my entire body and managed to put the odd uneasiness that the Grid was giving me to rest. The Grid was home and I would be damned to swim the Seas forever before I let the one place I'd ever known set my teeth on edge. And I really, really didn't want to be damned to swim the Seas forever. It was dark and creepy, not to mention the sheer amount of unprocessed data there. Talk about things that give you the shivers. Who knew what sorts of nasties formed by themselves out there. Yeesh.

Eventually we found our way back to the complex we stayed at, but not before we had a little run in with an angry program which only increased the uneasiness I was still feeling. He rounded a corner we were just coming up on and I had barely enough time to wonder about the nasty glare on his face before he plowed into me. It was bad enough trying to waddle along with a warped leg, but when you get smashed in the nose by a program in a mood-an unheard of occurrence mind you-even the most balanced of beings might stumble a little bit. Me, I fell right down. Hard. With the angry program grumbling at me and swatting at me as he tried to disentangle himself from me. I closed my eyes as tight as I could get them and steeled myself against the barrage of blows that rained down on me.

Wait a second, I'm better than this!

WHAP!

Quick as a flash, I snapped my fist up and into his nose which made a terrific crunchy sound as the data sparked and cracked. A wild laugh bubbled up from deep within my chest and a wave of some sort of emotion that was like happiness times ten with a dark twist washed over me. I leapt to my feet and grabbed the program by his collar, lifting him up to stare into his eyes. The coding there was all wrong. There was anger, yes, but more. What exactly, I couldn't put a finger on-there seemed to be a lot of that going around lately. Anger in the eyes of other programs-while uncommon and unnerving-was hesitant as if they were uncomfortable with the new sensation. There was no hesitation in this program's gaze, it was anger to the point of hatred and it burned with all of the electric intensity of the incessant lightning that flashed behind the ever present black clouds. For what seemed like the millionth time in the last few microcycles, this new revelation hit me like palpable force to the chest and my grip on him weakened, letting him slide to the street. Before I knew it, he was on his way down the street and sending glares back at Tron and I.

For a moment I stood there and tried to make sense out of what was happening. Tron put a hand on my shoulder and looked at me strangely.

_We need to figure out what's happening to the Grid, _I said.

_What do you mean? _he asked with a questioning look on his face.

_Don't pretend you don't see it. Things are changing. I can feel it emanating from the city walls. Can't you?_

He said nothing, only nodding his head solemnly. He took my hand once more and together we entered the complex.

OxOxO

Tron did not go into sleep mode, nor did he run his regular diagnostic. Too many things were sieging his already overtaxed processors at once and he found that he really couldn't make sense of them. Skye was better at this, sorting things out and coming to conclusions. She saw things in a way that no one else did and she had an odd way of knowing more than was good for her. He found himself smiling as he thought of the young program with the bright smile and often indecipherable way of speaking. She almost seemed to make up words as she went along and she said things strictly out of feeling more often than not.

He glanced at the door to her room once more and debated whether or not to enter and lay down beside her just to see what happened. Again, he shook his head and decided against it. She would likely think him a fool or get offended. Probably both. Instead, he went to the cooling unit and procured a tall glass of energizer to calm his nerves. His coding had been especially active the last few microcycles and the whole oddness of the city was really starting to wear on him. The whole not knowing exactly what was wrong was making him jumpy and restless.

He found himself thinking of the Users. He wished that he'd gotten to know Sam better and he wished that he'd been better to Flynn in the many cycles since they'd last spoken as friends. Wishing. Skye had told him the word and what it meant. He rolled it around on his tongue for a moment before filing it away for further analysis in the future. If there was a future. Flynn was gone and as surely as the tide came in, things would never be the same. He needed to find out why and what to do about it, but that could wait until later.

A sound to the left caught his attention. Skye had poked her head out of her door and was looking at him with a gentle smile. Again, Tron rolled a word over and over again. Skye had told him about gentle too. She had taught him many things.

_Are you coming or not? _she asked with a playful look. Tron smiled too as he stood and followed her into the room where he finally managed to-as the Users put it-"catch some z's".

**Please excuse the monstrous delay in updating! I've been so incredibly busy with the end of school and the beginning of another chapter in my life! I hope you liked this chapter and I will try to update more often in the future! **

**As always, feedback is much needed! Show me your love, give some friendly advice or rage about stuff-not that I'll really care much about the raging-and maybe, if you ask sweetly, I'll add one of your OC's into this story if you'd like! **

**Please Read and Review and thanks for all of your support!**


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